Depending on where you live, here comes that season when we’re reminded to trust that even the most dead-looking thing may have vibrant life brewing inside.

This speaks strongly to me: occasionally in the past year, I have felt worried or discouraged about how “unproductive” I was. The pace I had set for growing the wings of Parenting for Peace and spreading it ever more widely had seemed to slow to an idle. Important P4P projects and programs loitered in the waiting rooms of my imagination.

What happened to the fire in my belly? Where went my ambition to send P4P soaring throughout the world?? When those questions would come nipping at the edges of my psyche, I did my best to engage P4P Principle #6, TRUST — trust that all was well in the big picture, and reasons for the “stasis” would reveal themselves within a meaningful context at some point.

This is how it goes in parenting… intimate relationships… and in almost every aspect of your child’s unfolding. There are cycles of lulls and leaps throughout. Ebb and flow. We do well to abide, and to trust.

Trust the Lulls of Life

In musing on this, it occurs to me — remember how things looked during the early weeks of your child’s growth in the womb? From the outside, I mean. Other than maybe frequent dashes to the toilet (thank goodness I was spared active nausea!), things looked pretty much… same old same old. Nothin’ much happening.

And yet the most momentous things were happening unseen, deep inside. Like in the branches of that tree above! Life was at work, invisibly weaving an unfathomably intricate series of cellular events with miniscule error margins in timing, placement, and motion. (Reflecting upon embryonic development is a great antidote for those times when I feel like I’ve got to steer the ship of my life and control the ocean tides as well!)

There are times when inner streams of growth require so much energy and life force that there isn’t much left for outer streams of “doing-ness.” Things seem stagnant, sometimes frighteningly so. There’s the ebb.

Our culture doesn’t much celebrate the ebb. It’s all about flow — go, go, go, no matter how un-flowish you’re feeling. But when we can respect the natural ebbs… and trust in the cycles of Life… we invite in the most robust flows.

If you’re feeling like something is inexplicably lifeless or stalled out in your life, you might find my little riff during a recent call with Coaching & Care Circle members to be encouraging:

Meanwhile, if there are patterns of behavior your child may need a bit of “gentle nudging” to flow beyond, be sure to grab your  free copy of my “7-Step Guide: Helping Your Child Release Stuck Behaviors” ebooklet  up there!

Or go here to find it. This is a unique, powerful tool for parents to use with children of all ages!